🥺💗 THEY MAY BE SMALL IN SIZE — BUT THEIR PERSONALITIES AND THEIR FAMILY’S LOVE ARE SO MUCH BIGGER 🌈✨

When Gwen Hartley became a mother to Claire and Lola, she never imagined that both of her daughters would grow up with a rare form of microcephaly.

Claire was diagnosed at just three months old, while Lola’s condition was discovered before she was born. Doctors warned the family that the girls could face many challenges, and at one point, Gwen was told she could not be certain Claire would even reach her first birthday. 💔🏥

But Gwen and her husband, Scott, chose to focus on the time they had together rather than the uncertainty.

Today, Claire is 14 and Lola is 9. Neither girl can walk or speak, and both may experience seizures, but their mother says they have their own ways of communicating — through sounds, eye contact and the deep understanding they share with their family. 💕👭

And despite their tiny stature, they are very much like any other sisters.

They love listening to music and watching TV. Claire is gentle and calm, while Lola has a fiery personality and loves being cuddled. 🥹💗

Their older brother, Cal, is incredibly proud of his sisters, and the girls have grown up surrounded by a community that knows, accepts and loves them exactly as they are. 🌷

Their parents never wanted their daughters’ diagnosis to become the definition of their lives.

They simply wanted Claire and Lola to have the chance to be here, experience love, enjoy their family and discover the world in their own way. 🙏🌈

💙 A diagnosis may describe part of a person’s journey, but it can never describe the whole of who they are. Claire and Lola are daughters, sisters, little personalities and deeply loved members of their family — and their lives are worth celebrating every single day. ✨🕊️